[dgeere]

I have had a silly number of PM's lately asking if my theme that I use is online for download.

The short answer is, no, I made it myself. I don't want to give it away as it would mean our site is no longer unique. The only way we would even let a copy slip out for money is at $2000 simply so we can be sure it does not start popping up on all the other cs sites

So, the question...
Are there people on here that are after new themes for CS-Cart? Perhaps more simple themes? Or customised ones etc?
What price would you be willing to pay? Keep in mind that it is not just a case of designing the theme in dreamweaver, it needs to be cut, split up, customised, checked etc... it takes some time.

If there is enough interest then we may put together some themes both free and paid to release back into the cs-cart community.

Really, this is just a quick poll to see who is interested and what they would want to pay etc

Cheers

[arlen]

I don't, I'm building my own skin, however I definately think there is a market for good skins for CS-Cart. I understand your reasons for not releasing your own skin for a low cost, I don't think $2K would be enough for me to risk my site was duplicated multiple times on the net (though I have found a few rookie sites that have copied my manually coded site directly).

I've thought about putting together some for-sale skins myself, but as frequently as CS-Cart is updated I haven't been willing to take it on, just too much work to stay current and you'd have to provide support which could be very time consuming. I think there are probably several people waiting in the wings to offer skins once the dust settles a bit.

I think you'd have to market them at a price comparable to what skins for other carts are offered at to have any chance of success though. I'm guessing most people looking for premade skins are fairly new at online biz and on a very tight budget.

I also think there is a potential market for custom skins at a much higher price-point, though the number of potential customers is probably fairly small still. I'm not even remotely interested in offering such a service, but someone eventually will.

[truem]

I think you should sell them around $50 to $60

some of the carts sell them for $50-90 range

I am going to put up some new stores in the next few months
if someone were selling good skins i would purchase one

[kandip]

Yes Def!!! I think cs-community should start contributing skins (free + paid) to others. There are many people here who just do not know how to build a skin or even work around it. They cannot afford to hire a designer if they are only starting a new business. So, to the point.. .Yes!!!

[architeach]

Yes Def!!! I think cs-community should start contributing skins (free + paid) to others. There are many people here who just do not know how to build a skin or even work around it. They cannot afford to hire a designer if they are only starting a new business. So, to the point.. .Yes!!!

I agree and second the motion. Some new skins would be very nice. If I had the knowledge, time, and talent I would do it myself as it could be very profitable.

[Riddle Designs]

Just thought i would pop in on this convo.

I have been playing around with CS-Cart for about a week now and have som progress www.democs.riddledesigns.com.au

That is one i am working on for a client, Heaps more alterations to come but im getting there slowly.

I think that i should have a few templates available within the next two weeks or so and this will include some free one on the provision that a small link to my site is placed at the bottom (its only fair)

If anyone has any requests or templates that they want converted please either pm or use the contact form on my site.

I would really like to see the addon market for CS-Cart grow as in my testing it has almost everything already in it.

I just wish it used a better template system, but you cant have everything!

Cheers
Rob

oh and i almost forgot, SLOWLY working on pure css templates too (be a little longer)

[arlen]

oh and i almost forgot, SLOWLY working on pure css templates too (be a little longer)

I think this is probably the issue that's holding up skin development. Though I won't personally rely on a purely CSS-position reliant skin yet due to cross-browser / old browser issues, I know many people are ready to make that move. Once CS-Cart offers a default CSS skin which is easily modified in a style sheet, I'd expect to see a lot of new skins developed and offered for sale.

I think the template system is pretty robust and the object oriented approach allows for maximum design flexibility. I understand the decision to set things up this way, but it does mean that making template modifications is far more complex than it "could" be, and support for skins w/ signficant mods might require a high level of support by the author. Kinda keeps me from wanting to do it, even once I have a full grasp of the system. I'm sure there is a market, though I doubt it's huge and probably not "very profitable" yet, CS is still pretty new. I'm sure it will be in time though, and now's the time for someone to establish theirself as the leading template provider if they are so inclined.

[Riddle Designs]

Though I won't personally rely on a purely CSS-position reliant skin yet due to cross-browser / old browser issues, I know many people are ready to make that move.

at present the issue could be resolved by conditional comments, my expirience using one of the compeditor carts that i have been involved in for a while (which i will not mention) makes use of "includes" in the template which makes the whole system much easier to work with (eg: [catagories] and [cart] in the "main.tpl" page so you do not have to call on extra files to create the basic index file structure such as "bottom.tpl". if the system was like the one that i am describing i could slice and code a layout in a few hours and be cross browser compatible.

I will keep working on it and see what i can come up with, who knows i may even be able to improve file sizes and load times.

Please note this is all creative input and i am not putting a bad word on the program.

i will keep you all posted

please feel free to post your thoughts or any ideas as i am keen to see what we all can achieve as a community, hey we all stand to gain a little here!

[chahinemm]

for sure would interrest me but its important that its something that can be upgraded as cscart evolves though because as we upgrade it should be easier to manage..

chahine